Social Bots’ Involvement in the COVID-19 Vaccine Discussions on Twitter
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Social Media and Public Health Discourse
2.2. Vaccine Content on Social Media
2.3. Rise of Social Bots
2.4. Social Bots and Vaccine Discourse Online
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Data Collection and Cleaning
3.2. Social Bot Detection
3.3. Textual Analysis
4. Findings and Discussion
4.1. Social Bots Participated in Online COVID-19 Vaccines Related Discourse
4.2. Three Booms in the Discourse of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Twitter
4.3. Discourse Foci of Social Bots and Human Users
4.4. Three COVID-19 Vaccines Discussion Peaks Linked to Real-World Events
5. Conclusions
6. Limitations and Future Directions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Hashtags | All Tweets | Valid Tweets |
---|---|---|
#Pfizer vaccines | 63,641 | 45,609 |
#Moderna vaccines | 54,109 | 38,777 |
#Johnson & Johnson vaccines | 139,823 | 100,205 |
#AstraZeneca vaccines | 56,769 | 40,686 |
Summation | 314,342 | 225,277 |
2020.12–2021.1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dose | Effective | Against | Trial | EU | News | |
Human users | 10,398 | 8841 | 5985 | 6477 | 6353 | - |
Social bots | 979 | 1282 | 714 | 516 | - | 821 |
2021.3–2021.4 | ||||||
News | Blood clot | Pause | CDC | Health | Biden | |
Human users | 8275 | 7224 | 6922 | 3888 | 7422 | - |
Social bots | 608 | 1726 | 1535 | 917 | - | 710 |
2021.6–2021.7 | ||||||
Delta | Against | FDA | Warning | Health | Effective | |
Human users | 8021 | 7710 | 7213 | 4531 | 6049 | - |
Social bots | 1957 | 1869 | 1590 | 1416 | - | 1018 |
Stage | Humans | Bots |
---|---|---|
Stage 1 | Example 1: #COVID19 vaccine side effects: What it is like in #Pfizer, #Moderna trials The FDA says Pfizer’s COVID vaccine is safe and effective. However, trial participants warn of intense… | Example 2: #AstraZeneca to produce 90 million #COVID19 vaccine shots in Japan East Asia News @Straits_Times AstraZeneca to produce 90 million COVID-19 vaccine shots in Japan, East Asia News -Announcement comes as concerns mount over whether the country will have enough to start its delayed inoculation drive. Read more at straitstimes.com |
Example 3: I heard that COVID 19 $AZN #AstraZeneca/#Oxford #COVID19 AstraZeneca vaccine is reportedly only 8% effective in populations older than 65… | Example 4: #Pfizer BioNTech #Astrazeneca#Pfizer”“One step closer to freedom. You can help stop the pandemic by getting a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you. Join the global effort! Together against the COVID-19! | |
Example 5: #AstraZeneca offers eight million more doses of its #coronavirus vaccine to the #EU to try to defuse a row over supplies, but the bloc says that was too far short of what was originally promised, according to an EU official. | Example 6: Did you know all Phase 1 trials test several dose levels of vaccines? The dose levels carried forward to Phase 2; 3 in the #Pfizer and #Moderna trials are the best balance of safety and efficacy. Sign up for no cost COVID-19 updates: https://bit.ly/3rk9QP9 (accessed on 14 December 2021) | |
- | Example 7: #PfizerBioNTech #astrazeneca#Pfizer”“One step closer to freedom. You can help stop the pandemic by getting a covid-19 vaccine when it is available to you. | |
- | Example 8: #Moderna Vaccine Is Highly Protective Against COVID-19, the F.D.A. Finds #Moderna Says Vaccine Still Protects Against Virus Variants #Johnson; Johnson’s Vaccine Offers Strong Protection but Fuels Concern About Variants | |
- | Example 9: Replying to @KulganofCrydee and @IainDale The first of many great Brexit success stories. Let’s hope the vaccines start to speed up across Europe so we can all have our freedoms returned. #Brexit #AstraZeneca #CovidVaccine |
Stage | Humans | Bots |
---|---|---|
Stage 2 | Example10: #Janssen vaccine also has ‘possible link’ to blood clots: https://onenewspage.com/video/20210420/13805259/ (accessed on 14 December 2021) Janssen-vaccine Has possible link to blood clots.htm (accessed on 14 December 2021). | Example 11: 2 in 1 million women who have had the COVID-19 vaccine have had blood clots, 1 in 5000 women taking the pill have blood clots, 1 in 6 people with COVID gets blood clots. |
Example 12: #Brazil#AstraZeneca A pregnant woman survived after contracting the virus, and died after receiving the#AstraZeneca vaccine. #bloodclot | Example 13: The Johnson& Johnson shot has been given to some 7.2 million Americans, with six cases of women developing brain clots along with low blood platelet counts, including one death, within two weeks of getting the one-dose vaccine.#MNow #Vaccine #USUS call on resuming J&J vaccine expected this week#Science #science How The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause Might Slow Down The Global COVID-19 Response? How The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause Might Slow Down The Global COVID-19 Response? | |
Example14: Survived after contracting the COVID-19 virus, and died after receiving the #AstraZeneca vaccine. | Example15: #Breaking: #US ends pause on #Johnson; Johnson #Covid vaccine after concern about clots#Breaking: #US ends pause on #Johnson & Johnson #Covid vaccine after concerning about clots (http://Forbes.com) (accessed on 14 December 2021):#Fauci #Denies Johnson; Johnson Pause Will Contribute To Vaccine Hesitancy: “In the long run … people will realize that we take safety very seriously,” Fauci said… #TrendsSpy http://newsoneplace.com/14648812012/fauci-denies-johnson-pause-will-contribute-vaccine (accessed on 14 December 2021)… | |
Example 16: CDC panel reviewing Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause Friday. The CDC is investigating 2 new reports of clotting tied to the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.- | Example17: US President Joe Biden is expected to announce a “historic” US donation of half a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for 92 poorer countries, the White House said #News #Pfizer #Vaccine #Coronavirus #Worldh24.news |
Stage | Humans | Bots |
---|---|---|
Stage 3 | Example 18: A study from a team of New York University researchers found the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is far less effective at preventing coronavirus infections from the Delta variant and other mutated… | Example19:the Johnson & Johnson Coronavirus vaccine provides effective protection against the Delta variant, which is offering hope to many developing economies facing a summer surge of the highly contagious… |
Example 20: Israel study suggests #Pfizer/BioNTech #vaccine is less effective against #Delta #variant. Data suggests the vaccine is 64% effective at preventing infection caused by the Delta variant after two doses. Israel study suggests Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is less effective against Delta variant. | Example 21: Johnson & Johnson asserts that its single-dose Janssen COVID-19 #vaccine is effective against the #Delta variant, which was first identified in India and is particularly contagious, with an immune response that can last at least eight months. (AFP) | |
- | Example 22: #MOG Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine works very well against the Delta variant—but only after 2 doses. The study on 19,000 people in the UK found one Pfizer shot was about 36% effective against Delta, but it was highly effective after two shots. businessinsider.com | |
- | Example 23: #Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine works very well against the Delta variant—but only after 2 doses. The study on 19,000 people in the UK found one Pfizer shot was about 36% effective against Delta, but it was highly effective after two shots. |
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Zhang, M.; Qi, X.; Chen, Z.; Liu, J. Social Bots’ Involvement in the COVID-19 Vaccine Discussions on Twitter. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 1651. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031651
Zhang M, Qi X, Chen Z, Liu J. Social Bots’ Involvement in the COVID-19 Vaccine Discussions on Twitter. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(3):1651. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031651
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhang, Menghan, Xue Qi, Ze Chen, and Jun Liu. 2022. "Social Bots’ Involvement in the COVID-19 Vaccine Discussions on Twitter" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 3: 1651. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031651